Send a shirt, get a shirt

25 December 2017

Despite being an early tech adopter I avoid buying clothes online. At first the justification was that I didn’t want to deal with the cost of returns but these days nearly every retailer offers free returns. At this point it’s more habit than anything else and given how infrequently I buy clothes I’d rather just do it in person when necessary.

The one service that I wish existed, and I’m sure it does somewhere, is a place where I can send some existing clothes that I know fit me perfectly and then have them used as the basis for new, custom made clothes. I have a great dress shirt that I’ve had for many years and it shows - there’s a giant rip on the elbow and the colors are starting to fade yet I love the fit. I refuse to throw it out and instead keep rolling up the sleeves to hide the tear. If I could get the same shirt in a variety of styles and colors but with the same perfect fit I’d be glad to throw it out.

This must be possible somewhere and I know there’s a market for custom made shirts but this feels like something that can be done much cheaper and at a much grander scale. Rather than try to measure yourself or try on a handful of shirts it’s much easier to send a shirt that fits and receive others that have the same fit. If there are any companies doing this I’d love to give them a shot.